The Divine
by AmberLS123
Summary: .


_The Divine_

_By CherlnIDA, NightMagican, & ALS123_

Chapter One

"_The enduring world of mortals, the endearing world of the Divine. A bridge is made between them as the first angels fell. Ye who fell from the heavens, wings magnificent and clear, must accept this filthy world of those that walk on life before accepted to the heavens once more. Take in thy blood which is shed, take in the earth to which you fell, for it is where you shall fall. Some may live, some may die; but you must look after our brethren who have no wings to hold them."_

_-Divine Minister Ratester_

…_._

"Eighteen…nineteen… twenty! Ready or not, here I come!" the young mouse Bastial called out, his tail wagging eagerly as began the search for his twin brother Basil. He stood with his hands on his hips, pondering which of their favorite hiding spots to check first.

"Basil...! Basil...!" the little mouseling called as he ran through the white billowy hills, hopping and flying short distances using his bronze wings, which still retained some of its soft downy feathers. A grin appeared on Bastial's face as he approached one of the tiny lumps and pounced, dragging his brother out from behind one of the clouds by his tail. "Gotcha!"

"Hey!" Basil yelped. "I said no peeking, you cheater!"

"I didn't cheat, you just suck at hiding!" Bastial smirked. "Your tail always stuck out!"

"Yeah well… At least I don't wet the bed!"

"Jerk! Hey... bet I can fly faster than you."

"Pfft, I'd like to see you try, squirt. We might be twins but you were born an hour after me!"

The brothers took off, racing through the clouds trying to outfly one another, their wings shimmering brightly in the afternoon sunlight. Mice such as them, The Divine, lived high above the earth and so were born with wings to travel through the heavens. Basil giggled as Bastial tried to cut a flip in the air only to tumble down and land on his tail with a startled squeak. "Show off!" Bastial leapt back up undeterred and the race continued all the way into the city of Leonus, weaving in and out between buildings and pedestrians.

"'Scuse me, lady!" Bastial shouted as he swooped in and out from under a Divine woman's large bustle dress, causing her to shriek. As they continued the two nearly collided with a street vendor pushing his cart down the street. "Watch where you're going, you little—!" But the threat went unheeded as Basil and Bastial fled the scene too caught up in their games to notice.

They did stop however when a commotion down the street caught their attention. Confetti and balloons streamed through the air, while jesters and musicians marched down the street in a parade to entertain the crowd, and Basil and Bastial joined the Divine citizens in cheering them on. The two fell into a silent awe though when the Leonus army appeared, marching in formation, their bronze, gold, and silver armor gleaming in the sunlight and carrying the Leonus coat of arms. Their wings ranged in color from brown and gold to silver and gray. The boys stared up at the big soldiers, gazing at the swords and arrows and spears with wide eyes.

"Think that'll be us someday?" Basil remarked excitedly.

"Of course!" Bastial grinned. "We're Lions after all, remember?" he added, gesturing at his wings.

The boys looked almost identical, from their noses to their tails; both with brown fur with a lighter underbelly, though Bastial's was just a tiny bit darker shade. They even had the same dark emerald eyes. The only difference to really tell them apart was their wings. Bastial's were a deep bronze color while Basil's were a more golden hue. A Divine would give anything to have such magnificent wings. It was a symbol of power, bravery, and pride, like a lion. That's where the city had derived its name from.

"Just wait, Basil," Bastial continued, his eyes shining eagerly. "We'll be the bravest, strongest knights in the kingdom!"

"Yeah," Basil agreed. "Dad will be really proud of us."

"And Mom too," Bastial added, "if she were here…"

Both mice grew silent. Their mother had disappeared soon after they were born, so neither had memories of her. "Bastial… why doesn't dad talk about mom?" Basil asked suddenly. "What happened to her?"

Bastial's ears perked down. "That's... something even dad won't tell me. He just says 'As a councilman, I need to look after what family I have left.'"

"Your father's right, you know," said a voice behind them. "Family is the most important thing in this world and so must be protected!" Basil and Bastial turned and was surprised to see a young mouse smiling down at them. He chuckled at the looks on their faces. "Well you two little ones certainly look curious. Is there something on my face?"

"…Your wings are _really_ tiny!" Basil blurted out.

"Yes they are," the mouse laughed. "But here in your home, your protection of this kingdom relies on the strength of all their citizens. Even the smallest ones can make a difference to the line that crosses beneath us."

Bastial couldn't help snickering. The mouse looked like a teenager but spoke like an ancient adult. "You ramble like an old man!"

"Terribly sorry, is my age showing?" he smirked mischievously.

"Who are you?" Basil asked curiously.

"Oh, just some old cherub lord," the mouse said with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

"But what's your name?"

"Dagda... my title in my country is Dagda the Good. Perhaps we can cross paths again children. I am a protector of this land, as of my own kingdom."

"You don't look like a lord…"

"Looks can be deceiving!" Dagda glanced upward and noticed the first few stars twinkling in the dusky sky. "Oh dash it; Princess Charlotte is going to have a right fit at me for missing her tea party... You young mouselings better run along home as well. It's growing late and we wouldn't want you getting into any trouble."

"I guess so," Basil agreed, fighting back a yawn. He grinned suddenly, elbowing Bastial in the ribs playfully. "Hey… race you home?"

"You're on!" Bastial laughed as he took off.

"Wait, no fair! I didn't say 'go'…!" Basil protested as he scrambled up and chased after him.

Dagda chuckled and shook his head, watch the two fly away. "Oh to be young again…"

…..….

After dodging back through the crowd, Bastial and Basil began the journey home, racing through the clouds once again. Both had been warned about the dangers of flying through the thin clouds rather than sticking to the path through the city, but this way was faster and more fun for the two boys. However, on this particular night something seemed a little… odd. Bastial shrugged it off, still flying as fast as he could to win the race, while Basil seemed to struggle suddenly. He strained with effort, flapping his wings feebly and feeling like the atmosphere was different, pressing down on him making it harder to fly.

"W-Wait up! Bastial!" he called, panting with effort.

"Come on slowpoke!" Bastial shouted back, waving at Basil playfully, not fully realizing what was happening.

"I… I-I'm trying!" Basil called back, flapping his wings harder.

"Basil! What's wrong?" Bastial called out worriedly.

"My wings! I can't feel the air!" Basil cried out flapping helplessly, and whimpering as he slowly started to lose altitude. "I can't stay up!"

"Oh... oh no! Basil! Flap harder! Flap harder!"

"I'm trying but I can't feel the wind!"

Even from this distance Bastial could see the fear and panic in his brother's eyes. "Bastial! I'm gonna fall! Please, I-I don't want to die!"

"Ugh...Urgh!" Bastial clenched his fist and flew down as quickly as he could. Diving downwards and opening a palm to his brother as a beacon, their hands barely touching until Basil suddenly fell down at a fast rate. Bastial could barely remember what happened; something broke as he watched his brother fall into the clouds, his shrieks echoing and fading until they ceased.

"No...no...!"

_You can't. You can't be!_

Feeling tears stinging his eyes, Bastial hung in the air for a moment before racing upward and fleeing home to get help, though he feared it was far too late. Once there he found his father Richard in the study consulting with some of the other council members. Bastial hesitantly opened the door, scared to see his father's reaction to the news. Swallowing nervously, Bastial's voice squeaked as he spoke up.

"D-Dad?"

Richard sighed irately, crossing his arms and looking down at his son with a disapproving glance. "Bastial," he scolded, "I thought I told you not to interrupt when I'm in the middle of—"

"B-But Dad, it's Basil…!"

The scowl on Richard's face disappeared at the look on Bastial's face. "What happened?" he asked, frightened to hear the answer.

"He… H-He fell." A hush fell over the room, and Bastial shifted nervously as all eyes turned toward him. "Um..." he stammered nervously, "w-we were playing...yo-you see, but... I-I tried to save him, honest I did, but… I-I couldn't… I j-just…"

"He what?!" Richard nearly exploded, causing Bastial to jump. "You were playing in the cloud hills again weren't you?"

"I-I'm sorry Da—"

Bastial was cut off as he felt a stinging pain on his cheek as Richard lost control of his anger and struck him harshly. "I've told you both a million times…!" he shouted frantically. "N-Never mind that, we have to find him!"

Bastial leapt out of the way as the rest of the counsel leapt to their feet and sent for some soldiers to gather a search party together to hunt for the lost child. Bastial followed as Richard ran to the foyer and grabbed his cloak.

"I'll come with you—"  
>"No," Richard replied sternly.<p>

"B-But I wanna help…!"

"You've done enough already!" Richard snapped, whirling around with anger flashing in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, Richard turned back around, fastening the cloak around his neck before taking a bow and sheath of arrows down from the wall. His hands were trembling so badly he dropped the quiver of arrows and knelt to pick them up only to sink down to his knees in devastation, trying not to sob. Bastial stared with wide eyes, feeling his heart wrench. He'd never seen his father so upset. Approaching cautiously, he slowly reached for his father's hand.

"Dad, I..." he started softly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Just go," Richard replied coldly, pulling his hand away. "You share his face... I don't want to be reminded of his death due to your recklessness."

Bastial winced. "But Dad—"

"Your room, now!" Richard shouted, pointing up the stairs. Choking back a sob, Bastial fled from the scene as fast as his little wings could carry him. Once he reached his bedroom, the tears finally took over as he collapsed and curled up into a ball, sobbing and crying his brother's name.

"Basil… oh Basil, I'm so sorry!" he wept. "I'm sorry...it's my fault you're never coming back… It's my fault; it's my fault…"

….

Hours later, Richard returned with no success. A search party had been sent out, but there was no sign of Basil. It was every Divine's worst nightmare. Most who fell to earth perished from the impact, and the few who survived were hunted by the mortals and killed for their wings. It happened far too often, and the fact that this time it was a child made it infinitely worse.

Returning home exhausted and defeated, Richard ran a hand through his disheveled hair and sank down into his chair by the fire, holding his head in his hands and feeling tears finally fall. First his wife, now one of his own children… it was happening all over again. Hearing a soft noise upstairs, Richard lifted his head and sighed, feeling guilt sink into his gut. He might have been too harsh on Bastial, but felt he had a right to be angry. He had told the boys not to play around recklessly like that, and now because of their disobedience one of them had paid with his life. Still, he rose from this chair and ascended the staircase to check on Bastial.

As he quietly opened the door to the boys' room, the sight Richard saw caused tears to well up in his eyes again. Curled up in a ball on his brother's bed and clutching Basil's favorite stuffed bear with golden wings and a sword stitched onto its hand, Bastial had cried himself to sleep, tears still staining his face. Closing the door back quietly with a sad sigh, Richard left and retired to his own room, though sleep eluded him for the rest of that night and many more to come.

….

"You…You're sending me away?!"

"You knew this was going to happen someday Bastial," Richard replied with a sigh. "I thought you were excited about going into training!"

"Th-That was before…" Bastial trailed off, unable to finish. It had been several years since the incident of Basil's death, but was still fresh in their minds. Sure he had always looked forward to going to Astra when he was of age and trained to become a brave warrior… but Bastial never dreamed of going alone and fighting without his brother by his side. "D-Do I really have to go?"

"Of course you do!" Richard snapped. "It's your duty to fight for this city and learn how to protect it!"

"But I can't protect anything!" Bastial shouted back, tears stinging his eyes. "Basil's gone, mom's gone… I'm all you have left and you want to get rid of me?!"

"Y-Your mother…" Richard started, but he had to stop to pull himself together. Mastering his emotions, Richard glared at Bastial sternly. "Do you know why I never talk about her? She died like your brother... plummeted to her death before my very eyes; and I could do nothing to save her."

Bastial gasped and stared in shock at hearing how his mother died. He had always wondered, but now he almost wished he never learned the truth. It only compounded his guilt.

"And now I can't look at you without being reminded of them both," Richard whispered, causing Bastial's ears to flatten. "Now go finish packing and get out of my sight."

Bastial was already gone before Richard could even finish his sentence. Slamming the door behind him, Bastial hastily finished cramming his belongings into his pack angrily, biting his lip to keep from crying. Maybe it _was_ best for him to leave. Their mother had fallen, and he had failed to keep the same thing from happening to Basil. He'd already caused his father enough sorrow… But he'd show him. He would learn to fight and protect and make up for the mistakes he'd made. He would make his father and his kingdom proud.

An hour later the carriage arrived to take Bastial along with other Divine children to Leonus' military school in Astra. Bastial felt butterflies in his stomach and glanced at the carriage nervously, but held up his chin bravely and stood at attention while his father spoke with the carriage driver. As Richard motioned for him to come, Bastial pulled his backpack over his shoulder and approached obediently. Pausing at the steps of the carriage, Bastial looked to his father one last time and open his mouth as if to say something. Richard stopped him by glaring sternly and pointing to the door of the carriage. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Bastial sighed and squared his shoulders as he climbed inside. He didn't even look back out the window as the carriage clattered away from his home.

As they rode along, the carriage was filled with excited chatter from the children around him. But Bastial kept to himself, drawing his knees up to his chin and wrapping his wings around himself for comfort.

"What's wrong with you?" one of the boys asked curiously, peeking over his seat at Bastial. "Isn't this everything you ever wanted?"

Bastial sighed and clutched his backpack close to his chest. "What _we _wanted…"

The other boy glanced at Bastial tilting his head curiously. "Who?" he asked innocently.

"I-I don't wanna talk about it," Bastial mumbled, gazing out the window sullenly.

The boy took the hint and dropped the subject. "Well, maybe you could read this to get your mind off it!" he suggested with a bright smile, digging a book out of his pack and plopping it down in Bastial's lap before he could protest. "We'll probably be tested on this stuff once we get to Astra."

"Thanks…" Bastial responded quietly.

"Stephen," the boy replied cheerfully. "Stephen Hawkins."

"_Hawk_ins?" Bastial asked, eyeing the boys brown wings with black tips.

"Y-Yeah…" Stephen replied sheepishly. "My dad is a general in the Divine army… our family has brown wings like a hawk's so… the name stuck."

"That's… fitting," Bastial remarked with a smile. Flipping through the pages of the book, Bastial froze when he saw an illustration of a familiar face of young cherub king holding a sun scepter and surrounded by smaller cherubs. "Hey, that's…"

"That's a cherub," Stephen interjected. "They have smaller wings than us but they're a lot wiser and age slower. At least in appearance. But cherubs are a sub-species… you might want to start here with the four main species to begin with so you don't get confused," he added, flipping back toward the beginning of the book and pointing at one of the pages.

"You sure know a lot about this stuff," Bastial remarked, lifting one eyebrow unable to hide a smirk.

"Yeah…" Stephen blushed. "I-I just wanted to be prepared. Anyway, I'd start there if I were you. It'll make it easier once we get to Astra if you know this stuff already so you'll be smarter. You can borrow it if you want… um…"

"Bastial," he replied. "Bastial Rathbark."

"Nice to meet ya, Bastial," Stephen beamed before settling back down into his seat. Left to himself, Bastial did as he suggested and was soon lost in the book, finding himself fascinated by the information.

As the book said, there were five main species of Divine, each based off of an animal depending on their nature and wings. Bastial belonged to the race of Lions, with golden, bronze, gray, or silver wings. They were the bravest of all Divines, fighters, protectors of their kingdom. Eagles were the worker angels, though very similar to the Lions in that they were brave and strong, excellent fighters and very protective of their own. Their wings ranged in hue from brown to gray like eagle or hawk wings. The Swans, the highest ranking angels, ruled over the Divine, having white or golden celestial wings and possessing supernatural powers or abilities; graceful, but strong. The Robins, with more colorful hued wings such as red or purple or blue, were of a more gentle and peaceful kind, avoiding conflict when they could, but also possessing a nurturing and protective nature. Then there were the Wolves, with wings black as night who hunted in packs and killed to appease their bloodlust. Because of their sinister nature, all Wolves were considered evil and avoided at all costs. Any Wolf found trespassing in one of the Divine kingdoms was killed on sight.

Bastial felt a shiver run down his spine. He wondered if he'd ever have to kill a wolf someday. Either way, he'd have to learn how to fight first. Turning the page, he began reading about the different sub-species and weapons and history of the Divine. He was shocked by all the information he'd never even known about his own species. He became so engrossed in the book that he didn't even notice the carriage had come to a halt until Stpehen waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention. They followed as the other boys began to climb off and stared at the impressive building in front of them; Astra Military Academy.

The next few hours were a whirl of activity, with meeting teachers and touring the school. Their teacher and "tour guide" was an eagle winged old woman in a bustle and armor.

"I am Mrs. Hertroot, gentleman," she droned as the boys followed in line behind her as she led them through the halls, "and I shall be your instructor and personal teacher since this is where your education shall be taught as well and—"

Bored out of his mind, Bastial's mischievous nature kicked in and he slyly lifted her skirt up slightly. "Wow! Granny panties…!" he snickered quietly, although it was loud enough for Mrs. Hertroot to hear.

"—be taught manners..." she finished, snatching her skirts back from Bastial, who grinned innocently, causing the boys behind him to giggle and stifle their laughter. After a break in the mess hall for supper, the long tour was finally done and the boys were shown to the dorms where they could unpack and get ready for bed.

Kicking his backpack under the bed, Bastial flopped down tiredly and stared up at the ceiling, surrounded by the snores of the other boys and unable to sleep, pondering his future. This would be his home for the next several years of his life.

"This is it," Bastial muttered to himself. Though his heart was still heavy with grief, he was ready to start this new path to becoming a soldier, a real Lion.

He'd do it for Basil.

….

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: This started off as a series of drawings I made on deviantART of the GMD characters with angel wings, then I had a dream about them, then me and Cher and Chris got to talking about it and one thing led to another and it was like "oh look at that, we made a fanfic" XD<strong>

**So I know it's sad already... but I gotta warn you, get used to the heartache cuz it's not gonna get any better... ^^;**

**Basil (c)Eve Titus and Disney**

**Bastial, Richard Rathbark and King Dagda (c)Cherilyn**

**Stephen Hawkins (c)me**


End file.
